Improvement in galvanizing wire



i UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.,

GEORGE BEDSON, OF MANCHESTER, COUNTY OF LANCASTER, ENGLAND.

- IMPROVEMENT IN GALVANIZING WIRE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 37,669, dated February 17, 1863.

'o all whom it may concern.-

Beit known that I, GEORGE BEDsoN, of Manchester, in the county of Lancaster, England, manager, haveinventedimprovements in annealing, cleaning, and galvanizing or other- Wise coating wire and sheets or strips of metal with metals; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

The apparatus required for carrying out my invention may be varied to suit dierent situations or the will of the manufacturer. I have, however, appended to this my specification a drawing showing an arrangement .which I have found to answer Aand as applied to the treatment of wire.

Figure l is alongitudinal view. of the whole apparatus in section, and Fig. 2 a transverse section of the furnace for heating the wire.

At A is a reel, upon which the wire is wound, there being several of such reels placed side by side.

:At B is the heating-furnace, the construc tion of which is as follows: A lire-place is shown at a, Figs. 1 and 2,` the flame from which passes along an arched way, b, and through apertures c to a passage, d, and from thence to the chimney e.

At f is a second fire-place, the bars of which are at right angles to those shown at a. From this the flame also passes along the Way b,- and from thence through the aperture c. Between the arched way b and passage d are a series of tubes, g, through which the wire from the reel A is dra-wn, as shown by the red line.

At C the cleaning is effected, the apparatus consisting of a leaden or other suitable vessel, h, surrounded by a jacket, i, through which cold water is caused to flow. In the vessel li is a roller, k, also of lead or other suitable material, and by means of which the wire is bent downward so as to cause it to pass through the muriatic acid or other cleaning liquid with which the vessel h is supplied.

At D is the galvanizing-trough, consisting of a vessel, l, containing the molten metal, which is kept heated by fuel placed in the space m, as usual. The wire is bent downward into this troughby the foot a, and from thence, after passing over a guide-roller, o, is-wound upon the reel E. Any desired number of reels, according to the number of wires to be passed through the tubes, being placed as at A, the wires are conducted as before described, and as shown by the red line, onward to the reel E, and this being put in motion they are gradually drawn forward. At the furnace B they become heated, and in that condition pass into the cleaningliquid at C, where they immediately become ready for the galvanizing at D.

In order to explain clearly an advantage arising from my improvements, I may state that if, for instance, Wire of No. l2 gage be operated upon it may pass through the apparatus at a speed of about one hundred feet per minute, so that it remains but a very short time in the cleaning-liquid. This speed will, however, of course be modified by circumstances-as, for instance, the length of tube through which the Wire passes 0r the amount ot heat generated in the furnace. I have spoken particularly of wire as the article to be operated upon, but strips or sheets of metal may in like manner be treated, the tubes gbeing removed from t-he annealingoven B and a flat passage left therein. The strips or sheets may be pushed in at one end and drawn out at the other by hand by revolving rollers or other apparatus and conveyed at once onward through the vessels C and I).

So far my invention has been described as a continuous treatment for annealing, cleaning, and galvanizing; but, if desired, the annealing and cleaning may be used separately from the galvanizing, that process being conducted subsequently. I would also observe that, as the method of cleaning is an important feature of my invention, it may be used separately from annealing as applied to wire which is to remain hard. In such cases the article is passed through the oven, as above described, and there heated to a less degree than for annealing, as is well understood. This may be accomplished by less tiring, or

by causing the Wire to travel more rapidly, is to be done, directly into the bath'of molten and having passed, as before described, metal, substantially as herein shown rind dethrough the liquid c, it is properly cleaned. scribed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Let- GEORGE BEDSON' ters Patent, is- NVitneSSes:

Drawing the material in a heated state WM TUDoR MARLEY, l from the annealing-oven directly into the W. T. GHEETHAM, cleaning-bath, and thence, when galvanizing Both ofPatent-Oice, Manchester. 

